Clark Ashton Smith Books

Description /Buy link takes you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Clark Ashton Smith is an American author that is spoken of with the same reverence normally reserved for artists like H.P. Lovecraft. In fact, it is for his friendship with H.P. Lovecraft and the rest of their social circle that Smith is best known.

Born in 1893 in California, Smith spent his childhood in a cabin in the town of Auburn. Everyone who knew him would have told you that Smith was special. He remembered everything he read.

And yet he did not receive any formal education of significance because of the psychological disorders that ailed him. But his intellect was such that he still thrived under the tutelage he received at home.

Clark Ashton Smith’s love for literature was ignited at a young age. He started by reading popular stories like Gulliver’s Travels and Arabian Knights. By the time he was 11, the author had already begun writing his own fairy tales.

His first novel, The Black Diamonds, was written at fourteen (though, it was only discovered and published in 2002). By 17, Smith had already nurtured a relationship with a magazine called The Black Cat to which he sold many of his stories.

The boy initially restricted his work to poems. This is all he wrote for more than ten years, earning national recognition for works like The Star-Treader. But then his health began to suffer and the rate at which he was writing fell.

It was in the eight years that followed that the author met many of the figures that would eventually join H.P. Lovecraft’s circle, including Samuel Loveman.

Smith and Lovecraft’s relationship began in 1922. Lovecraft read Smith’s work and then he wrote the author a letter revealing his admiration. This endeared Lovecraft to Smith and the pair spent the next fifteen years corresponding.

It should be noted that, because Clark Ashton Smith wasn’t writing as frequently, he had to look to other professions to earn a living, including fruit picking. Life was hard for the author who had to support himself and his parents.

He got by for a time, especially when he started taking digging and typing jobs but he was still quite poor.

Smith only returned to fiction writing in the late 1920s. He began churning out stories at an incredible pace, using the nightmares of his childhood to produce fiction that gave even Lovecraft pause.

It was in the years that followed that Clark Ashton Smith earned his reputation for producing the most macabre concepts.

He was 61 when he married Jones Dorman and 68 when he died in his sleep. This was after suffering a number of strokes.

Clark Ashton Smith Awards

Smith won the L.A. Times Book Prize for The Double Shadow. He received Balrog and Locus Award nominations for works like The City of the Singing Flame and The Emperor of Dreams.

Clark Ashton Smith Books into Movies

Night Gallery was a television series that starred Vincent Price. It once featured an episode that adapted The Return of the Sorcerer.

The Double Shadow was also produced as a film in the mid-1970s.

Best Clark Ashton Smith Books

Smith’s fame can be attributed to the fact that H.P. Lovecraft was his biggest fan, with some of the best books in his bibliography including:

The Dark Eidolon: H.P. Lovecraft thought Smith was the most impressive author he had ever read, and he wasn’t the only one to heap such praise on the talented writer. The Dark Eidolon is a volume that attempts to collect and present his best stories and poems.

Those who read this collection are likely to gain a clear understanding of the mind that made Smith so appealing to his contemporaries.

The Emperor of Dreams: This tome spans Clark Ashton Smith’s entire career. It features everything from Kings and Gods to Wizards and Necromancers. It also shows off all the innovative worlds for which Smith was best known, Zothique and Averoigne in particular.

The short stories on offer include The Double Shadow and Mother of Toads. Smith stopped writing in 1937. So the stories contained within this collection are his legacy. These are the works that elevated him into the same arena as H.P. Lovecraft.

Some have called the tome decadent. Others believe it to be one of the most imaginative collections that have ever been published.

When Does The Next Clark Ashton Smith book come out?

Clark Ashton Smith doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Lair of the Eldritch Dark and was released on September, 17th 2022. It is the newest book in the Clark Ashton Smith Collections.

Home » Author » Clark Ashton Smith

BookSeries.org